hyperledger/fabric · error

endorsement failure during invoke. response: %v

Error message

endorsement failure during invoke. response: %v

What it means

During an invoke, after unmarshalling the proposal response payload and chaincode action, the code requires an Endorsement. A nil Endorsement means the endorser returned a response without a valid endorsement signature, so the invoke failed.

Source

Thrown at internal/peer/chaincode/common.go:121

		cf.DeliverClients,
		cf.BroadcastClient,
	)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.Errorf("%s - proposal response: %v", err, proposalResp)
	}

	if invoke {
		logger.Debugf("ESCC invoke result: %v", proposalResp)
		pRespPayload, err := protoutil.UnmarshalProposalResponsePayload(proposalResp.Payload)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.WithMessage(err, "error while unmarshalling proposal response payload")
		}
		ca, err := protoutil.UnmarshalChaincodeAction(pRespPayload.Extension)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.WithMessage(err, "error while unmarshalling chaincode action")
		}
		if proposalResp.Endorsement == nil {
			return errors.Errorf("endorsement failure during invoke. response: %v", proposalResp.Response)
		}
		logger.Infof("Chaincode invoke successful. result: %v", ca.Response)
	} else {
		if proposalResp == nil {
			return errors.New("error during query: received nil proposal response")
		}
		if proposalResp.Endorsement == nil {
			return errors.Errorf("endorsement failure during query. response: %v", proposalResp.Response)
		}

		if chaincodeQueryRaw && chaincodeQueryHex {
			return fmt.Errorf("options --raw (-r) and --hex (-x) are not compatible")
		}
		if chaincodeQueryRaw {
			fmt.Println(proposalResp.Response.Payload)
			return nil
		}
		if chaincodeQueryHex {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

  1. Inspect proposalResp.Response message printed in the error — it contains the chaincode error
  2. Check the chaincode container logs on the target peer (docker logs / kubectl logs)
  3. Ensure required endorsing peers are specified with --peerAddresses and reachable
  4. Fix the chaincode logic causing the bad status (e.g. wrong key, invalid state)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Ensure chaincode is committed and running on the peer
peer lifecycle chaincode querycommitted -C mychannel
peer lifecycle chaincode queryinstalled

Try / catch

resp, err := invoke(...)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "endorsement failure during invoke") {
  log.Errorf("chaincode rejected invoke: inspect response message and chaincode logs: %v", err)
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: peer chaincode invoke where proposalResp.Endorsement == nil — the endorser processed the proposal but did not (or could not) endorse, e.g. chaincode returned an error status or the ESCC endorsement step failed.

Common situations: Chaincode execution errors (simulate failure), chaincode container not running/starting, endorsement policy unmet on the queried peer, mvcc/read-conflict-like simulate errors.

Related errors


AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d4be0bcd352cca1. Report an issue: GitHub.